74 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



toes of shelter from the strong, east wind, which 

 accompanied a warm rain last summer. 



"Last spring Ji farmer in Mittincague, Mass., 

 planted potatoes on the cast, south and west sides 

 of a field of com. The soil was wet and hot, most 

 of the season. The potatoes had a. good growth, 

 and promised a fair crop, — hut while yet in good 

 growing condition, and nearly fit for harvesting, 

 there came on a heavy and warm lainstorm at- 

 tended with a strong east wind. In a day or two 

 after the storm, the i)otato vines on the east and 

 south sides of the corn began to wither, and in a 

 very few days, thcj' were dead. The potato rot 

 soon found its way to the tubers, but on the west 

 side of the field, the potatoes sheltered from the 

 wind by the corn, were vigorous, and continued 

 green till fully ripe. Who knows how much that 

 driving rainstorm had to do in blasting that field 

 of potatoes exposed to its fury ? Arc our warm 

 cast winds the sirocco that produces the potato 

 rot r" 



PUOrAGATION OF SALMON AND TROt'T. 



It may Ijc gratifying to your many readers who 

 a^e interested in the restocking of the American 

 rivers with fish, to learn that the first salmon of 

 the season hatched to-day. 



They are a part of the lot which were placed by 

 the New England Commissioners at the Cold 

 Spring Trout Ponds, at Charlcstown, N. H., to be 

 hate hed for the Connecticut river. 



The eyes of the embryo salmon were first clearly 

 seen in the egg about tlie 25tli of November. The 

 eggs were taken from the parent salmon on the 

 Miramichi river, on the 10th of October, which 

 gives 62 days for the period of their incubation. 



The first trout which broke shell at these hatch- 

 ing works, this season, made their appearance on 

 the 9th of Novcml>er, 35 days from the time when 

 they were taken from the breeders — being the 

 quickest time on record for trout in this country. 

 Livingstone Stone. 



Charlestown, X. H., Dec. 11, 1867. 



domestic training. 



The hints of "Mattie" on domestic training I 

 regard as appropriate and timely. Children nat- 

 urally wi.-h tu help and make themselves useful, 

 and it .seems to nie that parents often make a great 

 mistake in repressing this laudable ambition. Pa- 

 rents should begin early to lay the foundation of 

 future usefulness in their children. This is of 

 great impoi tance to the child, and is one of the 

 first duties of parents to their offspring. I have 

 oftc.a th(ju;;ht that if it was in the power of pa- 

 rents to give their children opportunity to acquire 

 but one liranch of education, it should be the do- 

 mestic tniining that will fit them for the discharge 

 of the many duties implied by the term domestic, 

 or honjc education — a knowledge of those little 

 everyday oci upaticms which each one must per- 

 form in making his or her way through this check- 

 ered life. 



The next branch should undoubtedly be book 

 education. And fortunate is that child whose pa- 

 rents combine in its training these two branches 

 in just pmportions. Parents of large means are 

 lial)lc to injure or spoil by over indulgence, or 

 exemption irom labor, children that arc naturally 

 good. E.-pecially, I think is this true of their 

 daughteis. A home is or should be our highest 

 ambition. But unless she who presides over its 



domestic affairs, imderstands the duties of her po- 

 sition, how long can she retain the respect due to 

 the mistress of the house ? Unless a woman is 

 familiar with everj' detail of housework, in all its 

 numerous branches, how can she make home what 

 it should be, — what she herself would have it to 

 be? or how can she properly direct others ? Where 

 I find the kitchen and wardrobe in good order, I 

 expect to meet a lady ; one who is such in the best 

 sense of the word. Ability to fold ones hands 

 properly in a parlor, to talk smoothly or flippantly 

 of anything or nothing, to apologize genteely for 

 not singing or playing on accoum nf a bad cold, 

 or to make calls ever so systematically, do not of 

 themselves constitute the lady, — certainly not the 

 woman, whose children shall rise uji and call her 

 lilcssed, and whose hu>band shall find in his home 

 attractions and comforts which will satisfy and 

 content the mind. 



"Matiie" has spoken a good word on the domes- 

 tic training of the girls. If the subject is "to be 

 continued," may I hope she will not forget the 

 domestic training of the boys ? 0. Foster. 



Timhridge, VC, Dec. 1, 1867. 



Remarks. — There is one branch of the domestic 

 education of both sexes, to which we wish to call 

 attention — the care of the sick. That young man 

 or young woman who enters upon life with little 

 or no knowledge of this subject, lacks an essential 

 qualification for usefulness. That celebrated phy- 

 sician, Dr. Rush, used to say that the knowledge 

 gained by three months spent in the kitchen by 

 every doctor before setting out in practice, would 

 be found to be among the most valuable of his 

 attainments. 



in the blues 



Do yon not, Mr. Editor, sometimes have the 

 blues ? I know j'ou are a very even-tempered man, 

 and much given to looking at the bright side of 

 things. But don't you sometimes feel, in your 

 private heart, that affairs are going topsy-turvy, 

 and inside out, and every way but the one you 

 hoped and strove for, and had a reasonaljle right 

 to expect? If you do not, then I should like once 

 in a while to borrow (though I don't like the too 

 common pmctice of borrowing.) a little of your 

 faith and trust, a little of your clear-sightedness, 

 to enable me to sec through the clouds that some- 

 times intercept my view. 



This is she way the world wags, now and then, 

 here in Doolittle Dale. 



One acre of potatoes (Sebecs) was planted early, 

 with the intention of getting them to market while 

 the price was pretty well up. Manure, a compost 

 of lime, salt and peat, was spread on the furrow 

 and harrowed in, — with Wilson's superphosphate 

 scattered in the drill at the time of planting. Field 

 on a sloping hill-side ; soil a good and deep sandy 

 loam at the lower end, chansing to gravelly loam 

 in the middle, and at the highest part a poor sand 

 with very little loauiiness. The potatoes came up 

 well, and made a fine promise for the first six 

 weeks, then began to show rust, and stopped grow- 

 ing. The result was about fifty bushels of good 

 potatoes — best in what we called the poorest 

 soil. There was no rot in this field. When ready 

 for market, the price was aljout $1.75 a barrel. 



Another acre ofSebec potatoes, planted later 

 than the above, barn manure spread lil)erally, 

 looked well the whole growing season; but when 

 harvested, were at least half rotten. 



A half acre of New Jersey Peach-Blows, bam 

 manure ploughed in, also promised a good crop, 

 but the potatoes were hardly worth digging, yield- 



